LATir^ J AMER ICAN E XPERIE NCE 113 Table I Magnitud( e of Exten ial Debt ir » Brazil, M exico/Arg ;cntina, Ch lile 1973 1975 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 BRAZIL Total Ext. 12680.7 23423.5 34962.8 46192.0 51371.3 56128.2 64305.0 70712.7 Debt Debt. a«% 15.4 18.3 19.9 22.9 22.8 23.3 23.5 25.0 ofGNP. MEXICO Total Ext. 7408.0 13835.9 25149.0 30985.0 36413.3 38938.3 47685.5 54963.1 Debt Debt as% 13.5 16.0 31.4 30.8 27.7 21.5 20.6 35.6 of GNP ARGENTINA Total Ext. 3532.8 5226.9 7531.0 8943.1 10972.5 12524.4 14579.3 18206.4 Debt Debt. as% 9.4 13.3 14.9 .3.9 10.5 8.3 12.1 29.8 of GNP CHILE Total Ext. 3178.0 4373.4 4644.5 5924.5 7548.1 9415.1 12633.0 13964.7 Debt Debt as % 30.9 63.0 35.7 39.6 37.6 35.3 40.0 63.3 of GNP SOURCE: World Debt Tables, 1983-84, World Bank, 1984. In our view the current crisis is not a product of policies adopted in the recent past, it is the outcome of the histocial process through which these countries tried to develop. Brazil For nearly a century, Brazil has occupied a key position in the international economy for a variety of reasons. It has not only been one of the largest developing countries in terms of the size of the market available for the advanced capitalist countries to exploit, it has also been one of the largest suppliers of raw materials to the industries in Britain and the U.S. Brazil was thus a pan of the international division of labour in which the underdeveloped countries provided cheap raw materials for the sustenance of the industrialization process in the developed countries while importing the manufactured goods produced by the latter. This international division of labour collapsed somewhat in the 1930s, during the Great Depression. The market for exportables from Brazil shrank which led to the reduction'of imports of consumer goods for the upper classes. The pressure of internal demand for these consumer goods gave rise to a new phase in the development of the Brazilian economy, the import-•substituting industrialization phase. ^ Brazil's attempt at import-substitution industrialization was typical of attempts made by other developing countries in that there was indiscriminate growth of industries. Litde consideration was given to the needs of the majority of the population.^ This made the industrialization effort a very limited one. The limits on the import-substitution drive were put from yet